Patriots camp standout Daxton Swanson has traveled rocky road

FOXBORO — Adversity is nothing new for Daxton Swanson. He faced it in college. He faced it last season after going undrafted out of Sam Houston State. And he knows he faces it now as he tries to earn a spot on the Patriots roster.

FOXBORO — Adversity is nothing new for Daxton Swanson. He faced it in college. He faced it last season after going undrafted out of Sam Houston State. And he knows he faces it now as he tries to earn a spot on the Patriots roster.

But the 23-year-old cornerback faced a different kind of hardship to start training camp when his father, Henry Swanson, 83, suffered a stroke and died on July 18. Swanson missed two days of training camp to travel back home to Palestine, Texas, to attend the funeral.

Swanson said the challenges he’s faced up to this point have made him stronger. Now, he’ll try to live out his dream of playing in the NFL with the memory of his father pushing him forward.

“Yeah, it definitely does. It motivates me more,” Swanson said. “I just want him to know he’s in my heart and my thoughts all the time. He loved for me to have this opportunity and is excited for me to be in the NFL. I just want to make him proud, even though he’s no longer here. He’ll know I’m doing the best for him.”

Swanson’s road to the NFL has taken many twists and turns. It started in college. He began his career at Toledo, where he led the team with eight pass deflections as a freshman. Wanting to be closer to home he transferred to Sam Houston State.

His coach at the time, Willie Fritz, said Swanson had less than two weeks of practice with the team before the season started. But when the Bearkats opened up their year at Baylor, the cornerback was in the starting lineup nonetheless.

“He loves the game. Loves to study the game,” Fritz said. “Where my office was, I could see the field, I would work on weekends and he would be out there doing what he could. … Very much a student of the game. Good young man. Good kid.”

Swanson found instant success at Sam Houston State and earned All-America honors by the time he was a junior. By the time he closed out his college career, Swanson was the school’s all-time leader in interceptions, with 14.

But it was in big games where the cornerback was at his best. His senior year is the best example.

In his final-regular season game, Sam Houston State lost to No. 9 Texas A&M, 47-28, but Swanson intercepted Johnny Manziel in the second quarter. Then, in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, Swanson came up with big interceptions in the team’s quarterfinal win over Montana State, and in the semifinals against Eastern Washington.

“Those were big games. Both of those were playoff games and he made big plays in both of them,” Fritz said. “[He’s] very competitive. Really enjoys the one-on-one matchup. He does a good job of playing the next play. He relies on speed, good ball skills as well.”

Swanson’s projection for the 2013 NFL Draft was all over the place, but he expected to get drafted. He thought maybe as high as the third round, and figured he wouldn’t fall below the fifth.

But the draft came and went and no one called his name.

“We thought he was going to get drafted. All indications I heard, he was going to get drafted,” Fritz said. “But I’ve been in this long enough, you never know.”

Swanson tore his hamstring two weeks before the 2013 Combine. The injury was enough to get teams to lay off the small-school prospect, but he’d still earn an opportunity.

He started his rookie season in Indianapolis, but was placed on injured reserve in September and released at the end of October. He signed with San Francisco in November and spent the rest of the season on the 49ers practice squad.

When he was released in May, the Patriots picked him up. He said part of his motivation still stems from going undrafted a year ago.

“Yes, it motivates me a lot,” Swanson said. “Expecting to get drafted, still happy to have this opportunity and still got to where I needed to be, that was one of my goals. Me being me, I expect the best of myself. Not being drafted was very disappointing, but I had an injury and that’s kind of what happened. I just use that as motivation. It doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you finished. That’s my mentality.”

It was hard to not notice Swanson during organized team activities and mini camp. The cornerback was everywhere, and that continued last week.

On July 25, the day before he left for father’s funeral, Swanson intercepted Jimmy Garoppolo and deflected another pass. When he returned to practice on Tuesday, Swanson beat Kenbrell Thompkins in a one-on-one drill.

After failing to stick with the Colts and the 49ers, he knows he needs to take advantage of every moment and every football that comes his way. He’s learned plenty of lessons over the past year. He’s faced hard times. But through it all, he’s grown stronger.

“I’ve faced all sorts of adversity,” Swanson said. “Being on different teams, injuries — it just made me more mentally tough and hungrier to come out here and perform well and do my job, on the field and off the field.”